CNN Exclusive: Mario Balotelli – I was unfairly treated in England

In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Pedro Pinto (@pedrocnn), AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli says he believes he was treated unfairly in England.

Highlights

On England:“I’m out from England, I’m happy that I’m out from England. That’s it.”

On his lifestyle:“Women,I think is normal. Cars? I like fast cars and I don’t see the problem if I like fast cars.”

On the UK media:“The stuff that they said in the newspaper that I did in England in the past, a few of those are real. The others are really just the imagination of the journalists.”

Full transcript after the jump.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Pedro Pinto, CNN World Sport anchor: You’ve been here a few months now. Tell me how you feel about being back home.

Mario Balotelli, AC Milan forward: Yeah, I’m really happy now. I have my family near me and my friends. I can relax and find my privacy, more than in England, where I was alone..

PP: You do a lot of things that aren’t so normal for a lot of other football players. You make a lot of headlines with your personal life and your private life……does that get tiring?

MB: The stuff that they said in the newspaper that I did in England in the past, a few of those are real. The others are really just the imagination of the journalists. But when you create an icon of a person in that kind of way, after everyone thinks you are like this and if you lie about it, everyone just thinks that it is all true. So maybe that’s why they think I’m crazy and do crazy things? Sometimes I dream to be alone and that nobody would talk to me. But I understand that football is really important and that everybody watches it. When you’re famous you have to do photos or autographs, especially for the kids.

PP: Do you think you were unfairly treated in England?

MB: Yes. But I’m not here to talk about if I’m unfairly treated. I don’t care. I’m out from England, I’m happy that I’m out from England. That’s it.

PP: You’ve made the headlines for other things apart from football, do you regret doing anything in your career?

MB: Women, I think is normal. Cars? I like fast cars and I don’t see the problem if I like fast cars. Some things have happened in my life, some stuff unfortunately happen and they went on the newspapers straight away. But I don’t see anything that would make people think that I’m bad or I’m crazy. I’m a normal guy.

PP: Do you think that some people have a bad image of you or a negative image of you and that’s not who you really are?

MB: Of course, even if you’re the best in the world then some people don’t like you and some people like you. It depends. What is important for me is that the people who know me for real know Mario how he really is. People who don’t know me, they read newspapers and they watch TV. TV is made to give a lot of opinions……so I can’t show the real Mario to everybody.